Domestic pork production has become a major industry in the United States, with a gradual change from small family-run businesses to large commercial operations. Commercialization offers several advantages including efficiency and cost effective production methods. However, for commercial production practices to remain economically feasible, piglets must be moved through production cycles as a unit that is, piglets must be weaned at the same time, and moved to grow-out pens at the same time.
In commercial pork operations, it is not uncommon for as many as 20% of the piglets born to be classified as runts on the basis of birth weight or their failure to thrive. Runts are a problem for the pork producer both because they carry disease and represent a loss of income for the producer. Ten percent of these piglets may die, and it is not uncommon for the pork producer to kill the others because of a lack of feasible alternatives to bring these runts up to a weight similar to that of their litter mates.
It is therefore desirable to provide a system which would deliver milk-feed or other supplemental diets to runts, thus allowing the piglets to gain weight and be reintroduced into the litter-group.